Big Fat Cranberries
…
It depends on which type, raw or dried.
Raw Cranberries and their effect on Body Fat
People generally don’t generally gain weight eating raw, fresh cranberries.
1 cup (100 grams) of raw, unsweetened cranberries contain:
Calories: 50
Protein: 1/2 gram
Carbs: 12 grams
Sugar: 4 grams
Fiber: 5 grams (20% of your DV)
Fat: 0 grams
You can see from the stats above that a cup of cranberries has a mere 50 cal through and through. It has almost no fat and protein, and has a small to moderate amount of carbohydrate. It’s also high in fiber and water like most fruits and vegetables.
What would make a food fattening is the presence of lots of carbohydrates, especially sugars. Raw cranberries do have some sugar but not in any significant amount. Not enough to have an effect by themselves or even in combination with the rest of your diet to push your body to store excess fat.
The only issue here is that most of us don’t eat raw cranberries. They are generally too tart and sour for most people’s liking, and so when they do consume raw cranberries they’re usually added to recipes like muffins and breads, or put into smoothies where they are mixed with other ingredients to help make them taste better.
That’s why most people eat them dried.
Dried Cranberries
Dried Cranberries are Fattening
I mentioned above that one of the most fattening aspects of any food is its sugar content.
If we look at a serving (1 cup) of dried cranberries you’ll see that it has the following amounts of carbohydrate/sugar in it:
Overall Carbs: 132 grams
From Sugar: 116 grams
From Fiber: 12 grams
So you can see here that eating dried cranberries is not that far off from eating something like gummy bears or sour candy.
So if your question about cranberries and whether or not they’re fattening referred to the dry cranberries, then the answer is an absolute yes.
.Unfortunately they are
But, if you’re looking to reap the nutritional benefits from cranberries but can’t stand eating them raw, then I recommend you check out the post on how to drink pure cranberry juice, as well as the recipes section where you’ll find healthy smoothie recipes that are loaded with cranberries and are at the same time not fattening.
Hope this helps.
– Cranby
